STRASBOURG, France (AP) Top-seeded American Madison Keys rallied from one set and 5-0 down to beat Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 4-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (0) and reach the quarterfinals of the Strasbourg International on Wednesday.
On the brink of defeat, Keys took plenty of risks and the strategy paid off as Lucic-Baroni failed to serve out the match.
''I was definitely thinking that I would be heading to Paris,'' where the French Open starts on Sunday, Keys said. ''Mirjana was playing well and I wasn't playing great, and I was just really happy that I was able to find it and figure it out.''
Keys was more cautious in the tiebreaker of the second set and took advantage of her Croatian opponent's mistakes to seal it.
Lucic-Baroni missed her chance to serve out the match for a third time at 5-4 in the deciding set and her game collapsed in the tiebreaker.
''For sure, my mental toughness was important.'' Keys said. ''Even at 5-0 I was trying hard and putting in all of my effort. My game was there, it was just a couple of points here or there that hadn't been going my way. It was a battle to the very, very end, and I'm very relieved with this victory.''
Key's next opponent is Kristina Mladenovic, who advanced past Alison Riske 7-6 (4), 6-2.
Russia's Elena Vesnina also advanced with a 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 win over fourth-seeded Alize Cornet, with Virginie Razzano waiting for her in the next round after upsetting former French Open winner Francesca Schiavone 6-2, 6-3.